Today, 27 VOICE group members took a trip on a yellow school bus to Angola Prison and had a most interesting day.....to say the least. My V.O.I.C.E. support group was personally invited by Warden Burl Cain, himself. This man is a very sincere person who is faced with an intense job!! He looks to people like us, who has lost someone due to murder for confirmation on what he's doing right to try to end the cycle; hard job, eh? He seems to really know where we're coming from, and knows our pain; because he sees both realms......the inmates' families are filled with pain themselves, especially the children (they're innocent). Warden Cain had us out to the farmhouse, where we had lunch, prepared and served by trusties. It was delicious, and they were VERY polite.

We got a guided tour of the WHOLE facility which sits on 18000 acres. This prison is self maintained and grows most all of the food prepared; the inmates are served 3 meals per day @ a cost of approx. $5.00 per inmate for 5166 inmates and they also feed their staff, which reside on the grounds of the prison.

We walked down death row, which was a bit eerie; we were NOT allowed to talk to any inmates, except for the trusties. We saw inmates working in the hot fields, being guarded by armed/unarmed guards on horses. The lethal injection room was a lil eerie as well; it was the actual table that was in 'Dead Man Walking', and another movie as too. The inmates with life sentences are locked up for 23 hrs. per day with one hr., 3 times a week for exercise; we saw a few, shackled, cuffed, and just walking in circles or back and forth. The only A/C was in the farmhouse, the hospital, and the museum; everywhere else is cooled by fans....very uncomfortable even for the guards. The trusties are housed in Dorms; which is a large open room with 60 beds per dorm, open bathroom facilities, 1 TV and lots of fans.

When an inmate dies in prison, they bury within 24 hrs. because they do not embalm. They're laid to rest in a coffin made by inmates and are carried in a horse drawn hearse made by inmates (very talented people).

The museum was interesting, too; but with so much stuff to see, and so little time, our day had to end. We all had a great time spending the day together and are looking forward to the next field trip :-)